WASHINGTON (WAND) - President Joe Biden's administration will examine possibly overhauling the Supreme Court with an executive order he signed Friday.Â
The commission will involve a bipartisan group of scholars who have constitutional law expertise, along with former federal judges and court reform advocates, per NBC News. It will have public meetings to allow outside voices to be heard and must finish a report within 180 days of the first public meeting.
Topics will include the length of service, turnover of justices, the court's membership and size, case selection and rules and practices, the White House said.Â
"The commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform," a statement from President Biden's administration added.Â
The president did not fully embrace the idea of court expansion during the 2020 presidential campaign. He did not directly answer when former President Donald Trump asked him if he would "pack the court" during a presidential debate, despite facing pressure from Democrats to add justices.Â
Former President Trump worked to quickly fill a vacancy left open by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg weeks before the 2020 election with Amy Coney Barrett. He also filled two other Supreme Court seats with Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
President Biden had committed in October to set up a "bipartisan commission of scholars" during a "60 Minutes" interview, but he said its purpose would not be on "court packing" or adding court seats.Â
"The commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform," he said in that interview.Â
The commission will be co-chaired by New York University School of Law professor and former White House counsel Bob Bauer and Christian Rodriguez, a Yale Law School professor and former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel.Â
